Sorry, I have been working flat out to get Shadows ready for release, but sooner than that ready for previews. I expect we'll be setting up the official product page and starting to post some previews within a couple of weeks. That date has kept moving back because the new art has taken longer than we originally expected and we haven't wanted to preview the game with placeholder art.

Game testing is well underway. We're still in a bug-fixing and balancing mode, but we're homing in on the final balance and the incidence of serious bugs is decreasing. I expect we'll need a few more weeks of testing though as we want to make sure we have a stable and balanced build before we decide on final release dates.

ORIGINAL: Modest Now, while changes to the ground combat are great, and I am very happy about it, thing which mostly took my attention are space based factions :) For a very long time I wanted to be able to build "secret" empire in dead space, far from any solar system (with exeption of mining stations that is). Now maybe I will be able to! :D :D :D Also boarding actions sounds very interesting :)

Yes, that's the idea. The new "pirates" are not the old pirates and can become quite powerful as well as harder to find and eliminate.

Regards,

- Erik

This is great as pirates are too easy to get rid of especially once you destroy their bases. Hopefully the bases will be stronger too and have weapons! Just hope the AI can handle them!

ORIGINAL: Haree78 What will also be intriguing will be whether we are able to get resources off of the space faring nations. I suggested this quite some time back when there was attempts to make resources more important. If we can get needed resources from what were pirates then maybe we can tone down the amount of resources in the galaxy and make them more of an important gameplay factor without causing unfixable bottle necks like before.

Yes, when playing as an empire you can actually put in a request with these independent traders/smugglers to effectively pay them to bring a particular resource to one of your planets. You pay, they deliver. They'll also interact with your economy normally of course, as there is always some demand your own freighters may not be able to fill. At the same time, in the cases where they are connected to an independent faction, trading with them can give them a bit more influence in your economy, but that's another story.

The messaging and information regarding resource shortages is also greatly improved and planets now consume resources for their own growth needs whether they are building something or not.

The preview images above are work in progress art for the "pirate" factions. The first one represents the "Mercenary" style, the second the "Smuggler" style. These are intended to reflect the ancient origin of the technology used by the space-based faction, along with the modifications they've made since the end of the first great war against the Shakturi, as well as their own specialization. So there are elements in both designs that are similar to what would have been seen in the Freedom Alliance vs. Shakturi era.

The Mercenaries have a very military look - they'll end up often working for other factions as well on attack and defense missions in exchange for pay. They also have strong raiding/boarding troops. The Smugglers are the traders - while they can also fight when they need to, their focus is on building their strength through smuggling and trade income and locking down influence on worlds they trade with through a network of secret bases and fortresses, eventually world-spanning networks, etc.

The suits are designed to not be specific to any single species, so while they are not customized to a species like the Dhayut, you can imagine most of the other species potentially inside there. The final versions of these will show up in-game when you are communicating with the space-based factions, for example.

I said the game looks cool. There are screenshots. I aver that they look cool. This is your last chance to troll, so make it a good one.

Out of deference to Erik, I'll keep this restrained.

Marketing previews and descriptions are nowhere near "reliable" where it comes to games and how they behave when they come to market. Just look at any number of examples of jaw-dropping screenshots, drool-inspiring demo videos and rapt descriptions from closed-door review sessions. And then compare that "real information" as you consider it to what ACTUALLY came out.

My position is this: reality in the gaming industry as seen through the lens of the marketing department is less reliable than the sexual attractiveness of a potential mate as seen through the lens of the bottom of a beer glass.

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“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.” ― Christopher Hitchens

ORIGINAL: Kayoz My position is this: reality in the gaming industry as seen through the lens of the marketing department is less reliable than the sexual attractiveness of a potential mate as seen through the lens of the bottom of a beer glass.

Certainly true in some cases. Fortunately for you, I am not the marketing department and in any case our marketing folks are good guys too.

In all seriousness though, this seems like a good opportunity to get up on my soapbox a bit. I try to tell you guys about the game the same way I see it. I may get a bit too excited sometimes and I may also see things a bit differently due to my involvement in the design and development, but it goes against our grain here to try to make the game something it isn't. With that said, it's almost impossible to see and understand the entirety of a game through bits and pieces at the preview stage the way you would when you are actually playing it.

That's where I can only say that the same folks who made DW, Return of the Shakturi and Legends are working on Shadows. It's been our most challenging expansion release so far, because of how far we went from the "default" gameplay with some of the new options. Creating each DW release has been an iterative process. We keep working at it and polishing it until we're sure it's finally ready. Sometimes we get that more right than others, but I think overall, with the exception of some of the big bugs that got past us in the very first release and which we addressed soon after the release, we've done pretty well.

At this point DW has become a fairly mature game and with each release we're tightening, balancing and tuning it more in many areas and breaking the mold in a few others. Shadows is shaping up well though and I'm confident it will let you all play DW in whole new ways as well as refreshing the existing gameplay and challenge level.

As always, I'll keep talking about it before release as time allows (until the Marketing Department takes over ) and we'll be listening to your feedback post-release to make sure we address any issues and incorporate your feedback into updates and future releases.

"Tho' much is taken, much abides; and though we are not now that strength which in old days moved Earth and Heaven; that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will." -Tennyson

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins ... in Shadows each colony consumes strategic resources based on its size and development. If it doesn't get enough, it won't grow and it will keep demanding those resources even if nothing is being built there.

I really hope a rule-rapist is testing this. As it stands, a single escort can enforce a blockade - and do it all the while he's puttering from across the galaxy with zero fuel. Do this to all an opponent's planets and you shut him down economically.

This makes blockade FAR too powerful as an escalation to war.

_____________________________

“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.” ― Christopher Hitchens

ORIGINAL: Kayoz My position is this: reality in the gaming industry as seen through the lens of the marketing department is less reliable than the sexual attractiveness of a potential mate as seen through the lens of the bottom of a beer glass.

Certainly true in some cases. Fortunately for you, I am not the marketing department and in any case our marketing folks are good guys too.

In all seriousness though, this seems like a good opportunity to get up on my soapbox a bit. I try to tell you guys about the game the same way I see it. I may get a bit too excited sometimes and I may also see things a bit differently due to my involvement in the design and development, but it goes against our grain here to try to make the game something it isn't. With that said, it's almost impossible to see and understand the entirety of a game through bits and pieces at the preview stage the way you would when you are actually playing it.

That's where I can only say that the same folks who made DW, Return of the Shakturi and Legends are working on Shadows. It's been our most challenging expansion release so far, because of how far we went from the "default" gameplay with some of the new options. Creating each DW release has been an iterative process. We keep working at it and polishing it until we're sure it's finally ready. Sometimes we get that more right than others, but I think overall, with the exception of some of the big bugs that got past us in the very first release and which we addressed soon after the release, we've done pretty well.

At this point DW has become a fairly mature game and with each release we're tightening, balancing and tuning it more in many areas and breaking the mold in a few others. Shadows is shaping up well though and I'm confident it will let you all play DW in whole new ways as well as refreshing the existing gameplay and challenge level.

As always, I'll keep talking about it before release as time allows (until the Marketing Department takes over ) and we'll be listening to your feedback post-release to make sure we address any issues and incorporate your feedback into updates and future releases.

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins The suits are designed to not be specific to any single species, so while they are not customized to a species like the Dhayut, you can imagine most of the other species potentially inside there. The final versions of these will show up in-game when you are communicating with the space-based factions, for example. Regards, - Erik

Will these be modifyable... IE: can you make your own mercenaries just like you would a race? Set parameters for boarding parties like we do for battalions right now? I am thinking this will really be fun.

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Remember that the evil which is now in the world will become yet more powerful, and that it is not evil which conquers evil, but only love -- Olga Romanov.